Daily Comment on News and Issues of Interest to Michigan Lawyers

01/28/2011

Did President Obama Really Knock Lawyers in His State of the Union Address?

The National Law Journal says that the President "gently knocked" lawyers in this State of the Union address on Tuesday. Here's what he said:

Over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries," he said. "Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all. But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change.

But is this really a knock, even a gentle one, on lawyers? If the law is so complicated that it takes a lawyer's advice to sort out, the blame doesn't lie at the feet of lawyers. Isn't it more plausible to read the President's statement is a reminder that access to justice is not as equal as it should be? And who among us wants to argue with that?

The other State of the Union comment that NLJ cited as evidence of a knock on lawyers was the President's signal that he is willing to consider medical malpractice reform "to rein in frivolous lawsuits." The case that this was a gentle chiding of lawyers is stronger than the tax code comment. The extent to which frivolous lawsuits are a problem is a subject of fierce debate, but the blame for any truly frivolous lawsuit can't be laid off on anyone other than the lawyer who filed it. The President didn't align himself one way or the other on the extent of the problem. He just said that he's willing to look at the idea, which is not really staking out a new position. As NLJ points out, the President told the American Medical Association in 2009 that he was interested in compromise, and the health care law calls for $25 million in grants to examine alternatives.

Comments

Did President Obama Really Knock Lawyers in His State of the Union Address?

The National Law Journal says that the President "gently knocked" lawyers in this State of the Union address on Tuesday. Here's what he said:

Over the years, a parade of lobbyists has rigged the tax code to benefit particular companies and industries," he said. "Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all. But all the rest are hit with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and it has to change.

But is this really a knock, even a gentle one, on lawyers? If the law is so complicated that it takes a lawyer's advice to sort out, the blame doesn't lie at the feet of lawyers. Isn't it more plausible to read the President's statement is a reminder that access to justice is not as equal as it should be? And who among us wants to argue with that?

The other State of the Union comment that NLJ cited as evidence of a knock on lawyers was the President's signal that he is willing to consider medical malpractice reform "to rein in frivolous lawsuits." The case that this was a gentle chiding of lawyers is stronger than the tax code comment. The extent to which frivolous lawsuits are a problem is a subject of fierce debate, but the blame for any truly frivolous lawsuit can't be laid off on anyone other than the lawyer who filed it. The President didn't align himself one way or the other on the extent of the problem. He just said that he's willing to look at the idea, which is not really staking out a new position. As NLJ points out, the President told the American Medical Association in 2009 that he was interested in compromise, and the health care law calls for $25 million in grants to examine alternatives.